There’s no escaping the fact that banking is a major business in Germany.  There are no end of banks available – the large ones like Deutsche Bank, the consumer-orientated ones like Postbank, regional Volksbanken and Sparkassen, and even a number of private banks.

Some of them are interested in the normal current-account type of customer, others are more into mortgages, and others still into investment banking.  Many even sell each other’s products.

So it’s not unusual for someone to have accounts at more than one bank, and if these are in some way interlinked, keeping tabs on everything gets really complicated – to the point where there is a big market for personal finance software. [Read more…]